The Simple Reason Why Your Readers Don’t Support You (And What To Do About It)
This simple trick can make a difference.
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When I shared Surf’s Up! Support Your Favourite Writer This Summer a few days ago, I got this public comment from a fellow writer:
Guess I’m not good enough as a writer to merit a coffee. I’m no one’s favourite writer (…) I regret opening my own ko-fi account.
Apparently, the Medium Gods heard us and send me a story by Kristi Keller in my feed: Don’t Be Surprised When People Aren’t Supporting You.
I couldn’t agree more with Kristi.
According to Kristi, when it comes to getting supported by your audience, you have to keep in mind:
- people don’t actually know what you do, what you offer, or what you want from them.
- we can’t assume anyone knows anything about what we do unless we’re bold enough to point it out and go for the ask.
Here are Kristi’s tips to get supported by your readers:
If you want people to know what you offer, make it obvious.
If you want them to buy something from you, ask for it.
If you want them to read something you’ve written because it may be helpful, ask them to.
Don’t assume that what you want should be obvious to everyone. We’re all wrapped up in the spin cycle, we have no idea what’s going on outside our own machine.
The worst that can happen is they ignore your ask, and that’s fine. They were ignoring you anyway!
By asking her audience to buy her a coffee, Kristi already gained 15 supporters on Buy Me A Coffee:
